Plan B
by Darikiema
Summary: If everything in Interstellar had gone according to plan.


He always had that hollow look in his eyes. Every year it grew darker and every generation stole more life out of those eyes. The old man who worked the crops with machines he made out of old landers and the metal that the colony mined and formed for him and to his specifications. Everyone did what he asked of them because Mother Brand told them they should. He was a grouchy old man, but he was the best damned person who survived the Endurance Mission. The one who protected them all when they first landed and who was the first to be called when something went wrong.

No one ever asked why he always looked so haunted. They all knew. His family was robbed of him by a monstrous lie made to him by Brand's father.

The only person who would talk to him anymore, besides the strange robots that followed him around, was Brand. Amelia was the only one brave enough to go see him on more than a yearly basis or whenever there was crisis. And she did so everyday.

Everyone knew she was in love with him. Her children had known since they had been born, but he was too emotionally absent to even notice.

* * *

"Hello, Cooper," she said softly. No longer hesitantly like she had those first few years after he had built his house and she had started her second round of embryos to incubate. Now she was an old woman and he an old man.

"Romilly just became a grandfather again," she informed him, taking her usual seat in her rocking chair. She loved that chair; he had built it especially for her. It wasn't fancy and had a spot on one rung towards the back that clunked when she rocked too fast. When she was younger and more versatile, she had been able to lean it back until it stayed stationary. Now she just rocked back and forth slowly. His chair was a simple wooden, straight back chair. They each faced the setting sun, Gargantua crawling across the sky slowly. Like a moon it glittered at them with a strange light.

"Good for him," Cooper snarked, taking a long swig of his homemade whiskey.

"I thought you might like that," she chuckled as she set her canvas bag on the ground and pulled a pair of knitting needles out with a pale blue yarn. She was knitting another sweater.

"Not right, marrying a woman who you helped raise."

"Doyle and Mann did it also."

"Doesn't change my point. What sort of example are we setting for the future of our race by doing that? Saying it's ok to marry your kids and your brothers and your sisters?"

"Well, Cooper, what did you really expect from us. We had to populate in some way and as long as we don't endorse polygamy, I'd say we did alright," Brand smiled. Cooper glared at her the way he always did when she made that stupid joke.

"Where is CASE?"

"Out working maintenance on the combines. Gotta feed you perverts somehow. You know they call me Old Man Coop?"

"Well at least you're not Mother Brand," she snipped, tugging a bit viciously on the ball of yarn in her bag. It didn't pull out, but Coop saw it damn near try.

"They love you at least. They all think I'm the creepy old guy that just hangs around to fix problems, make whiskey and feed them all. You are practically a saint to them."

"I'd rather have gone back home." She wasn't knitting anymore and her eyes were glazed over with tears she so rarely felt these days.

"Yeah," he agreed gently, patting her knee. He tugged on the sweater she was working on a few minutes later, prompting her to smack his hand away and continue working.

"How come you never did?"

"What?"

"How come you never settled down with one of them? With Doyle or Romilly or hell, even one of those boys you raised. I've seen them staring at you."

"You've seen them pity me, Cooper. I never settled down with one of my boys because I agree with you on that point. I raised them and I couldn't live with myself if I had slept with one, let alone had a child with one of them." She was quiet, but he could hear the angry tension in her voice.

"If Edmunds had still been alive, would you have?"

"Maybe," she sighed, anger fading away with her breath. A sadness fell over her after it was gone, making her face look gaunt and as haunted as his own did whenever he looked in the mirror.

"What about Doyle and Romilly? Hell, even Mann would have made you happier than coming here every day and listening to me rant and rave and drink myself into oblivion. You deserved that after I said those awful things to you. I never meant them." He had her hand in his, gaze piercing into her own.

"There was only ever one man I could have seen myself being with for the rest of my life. And he died that day his daughter messaged him that Plan A would never work and they were all doomed. That we were the last of our home."

Cooper said nothing, just stared back out at Gargantua. Angry and bitter because he had known how she had felt; had felt the same. Sometimes he thought he still could.

"We should have gone back. Even if it was to die. We knew that this world would sustain life. We could have tried to get more of them back here. And stayed with them," she finished. Her hands were shaking when she wiped her eyes. It was the first time in a long time he could remember her crying.

"You and I never belonged here. Or there. Maybe we should have stayed out there, searching for something else."

"A way to save everyone back on Earth?"

He chuckled. "Everything in our lives circles back to the good of the human race."

"Well, that's what happens when you never finish your mission."

She left soon after darkness truly began to fall. The food she had brought him sitting on his table when he finally went back inside. A dark green scarf sitting beside the plate. She was always leaving him with exactly what he needed these days. She just couldn't fill in the gnawing ache in his chest that Murphy had torn asunder when she had begged him to know if he had abandoned them.

Not completely.

* * *

"I managed to distill enough of the corn into rocket grade fuel," Coop whispered into her hair. They were laying in his bed as they waited out the storm that landed every spring. The house creaked as the wind pelted it with rain. Leaks in the ceiling that he was too old to fix let the water through in small rivulets.

She turned to look up at him. They hadn't been any more intimate since she revealed her feelings to him, but it was nice to share the physical comfort of a hug or a wam body to lie with.

"And do what?"

"Get the quantum data. Maybe there is still someone out there to save."

"Cooper," she whispered, stroking his gaunt face and fingering his long white beard. "Neither one of us is young enough to survive the trip. And even if we did, how are we supposed to get the data through the event horizon? You sent TARS into that thing decades ago and nothing ever came out."

"You wanna just wait to die on this rock? Or go out knowing you did something to help save those people on earth?" She said nothing for a long time and he feared she was going to beg him not to do it. He watched the ceiling with fear and anger gnawing at his gut until she finally took a deep breath and sighed.

"You'll go out there with or without me, won't you?" She asked him. But he knew as well as she did, that it was no question she asked him.

"You don't have to come with."

"And what would you do without me?"

"Well, my dear, it'd be mighty lonely." She laughed at him then, smiling softly as he ran his old fingers through her sliver white hair. The wrinkles on her face disappearing the more he looked at her.

"You know I'll always regret not waking up sooner and being with you-"

"Don't. I lost you and I was ok with that. The man I took care of all those years was not you. And I've lived with that."

"I still wish you hadn't had to."

Brand gulped softly, pulling frail lips into her mouth. She blinked a few times before shaking her head once. Saying nothing- she didn't have to, she just rested her head against his shoulder.

"When do we leave?"

"Whenever you like."

"Soon as the storm is gone?"

"We could go right now, just need to grab CASE and some supplies. Only gotta make it a few months."

"Right now."

The colony could see a few flashes of light in the dark sky and when the storm was over, the floods covering the plains and the sky a crisp reddish blue, Old Man Coop and Mother Brand were gone.

* * *

"Easy there, Mister Cooper," a strange man said to him. But Coop was up and out of the bed faster than he had in years. The doctor was making a stupid joke about how old he really was. Kid had no idea. He watched a few kids break a window while playing baseball. They were having fun. Something he wasn't used to seeing. Even back in the colony, kids usually only came around to see if he was really that grumpy old man that their parents told them to steer clear of.

"Where am I?"

"Cooper Station. Currently orbiting Saturn," the doctor replied succinctly.

"Cooper Station? Mighty nice of you to name it after me." The nurse was laughing at him now.

"The station wasn't named after you. But after your daughter. But she always maintained how important you were-"

"Is she still alive?"

The man smiled, nodding softly at him. "Yes. She is far too old to be transferring from another station, but when she heard you were alive... Well, this is Murphy Cooper we're talking about."

"Yes," Coop replied to the awe he heard in the other man's voice. "Yes it is."

"We'll have you checked out of here in a couple of days."

"Brand- what about the woman I was with?"

"Dr. Brand? She was found adrift with you when the Rangers picked you up. She had a massive heart attack before we found you, but we managed to revive her. She will have to remain here for some time," the doctor said. His face was grim and eyes downcast.

"What?" Cooper asked, terrified of the answer he might get from those sad eyes.

"It doesn't look good, Sir."

"I want to see her."

"She isn't awake and you're still-"

"I'm 124 years old and I ain't getting any younger. I wanna see her." He was frantic now. Almost panting as he closed in on the doctor.

"Alright," he said placatingly, raising his hands in supplication. "Alright, Mr. Cooper. We'll take you to see her now. I'll make arrangements for you to be transferred to the same room."

Coop sighed with relief, sagging into himself as he grabbed the younger man's arm.

"Thank you."

Amelia lay quietly on the bed. Her face pale and pasty gray, eyes sunken in with disuse and an oxygen hose was tied to her face. Each hand rested atop her stomach and the blue hospital blanket was laid perfectly over her. Not a wrinkle on her. Like some kind of Queen been laid to rest.

Coop shook the thought from his mind. She was still breathing.

"Hey, Sweetheart," he said, gently taking one of her hands and holding it tightly in both of his. She was frail, almost breakable in his grasp. The thought made him want to cry because even to the day they entered Gargantua, he had always seen her as that young, vibrant and strong woman he had set sail with all those many long years ago.

"Hey. Please wake up, Brand. Please wake up and talk to me. I still need you."

She didn't move and he continued his vigil at her bedside. Never letting go of her thin fingers and wrinkling hand.

* * *

Fingers were running through his hair as he woke. Slowly rising to the surface of consciousness as he had been doing every day since he let go of the drink and began forgiving himself for being lied to. These fingers were familiar in their soft and cool caress. He knew that she was awake and was waiting for him to do the same.

"They said your heart exploded and they had to repair most of the damage with stints."

"I know."

"They almost didn't manage to revive you."

"I know," she breathed slowly. Fingers never stilling from their work in his hair even as he reached for her other hand and turned his head to face her. He didn't sit up because it felt too nice. That and his back probably wouldn't have been able to do so without a lot of pain.

"I almost lost you again," he choked. Spitting the words out the best he could around the lump in his throat.

"I'm not done here. I still have to keep my promise."

"What promise?" He asked her, whispering softly.

"A long time ago, before you ever even left us to pack, I made a promise. To a very special, smart and courageous young girl. I promised her I would bring her father back to her and keep him safe until I did," Brand whispered hoarsely. She was crying once more and no amount of stiffness in his joints could have stopped him from reaching to wipe her cheeks.

"You promised Murph that?"

"I did. And of all the other promises I couldn't keep, I will be damned sure this isn't one of them." She flared her nostrils at him and he could see the dark haired spitfire he could have loved.

"I don't deserve you."

"No you don't. But you do try," she chuckled. His expression of mock indignation made her giggle and the happy smile he put on her face made his heart glow a little brighter.

"Murph is transferring from another station. She'll be here in a week. You've been asleep for nearly twelve days. Scared me nearly to death." But his stern chastising didn't hide the fear he still felt. The tremor in his voice was easy to claim as old age to anyone but her.

"So she's still alive? Good. When we went into that black hole, I wasn't sure we would survive."

"We did. They- future humans- rescued us. TARS managed to find the quantum data that they needed to finish the gravity equation but there was no way to communicate it except through the Tesseract." Brand was smiling softly at him, confusion written all over her face but she didn't say anything about it.

"Cooper. You either have one wild imagination or there are beings out there that are looking out for more than the survival of the human race."

"They are," he assented. She didn't understand, probably didn't care, so he would leave it at that.

"Go back to sleep, Coop. In your own bed. I'll still be here when you wake up again," Brand ordered, swatting his shoulder lightly.

"Yes, Ma'am," he laughed, kissing her forehead before shuffling over to his own bed.

* * *

Murph was old when they entered the room. He and Brand were staying at the replica of his old house. Brand had gotten a kick out of it, CASE and TARS each thought it rather similar to the one he had built. But Brand as dying. As was Coop. Their joy ride through space and time had shortened their years more than they knew.

Somehow, the idea that he and Murph really did end up being the same age the next time they saw each other didn't make him feel any better. She was quietly smiling when she did see him, calling him an old man in front of everyone. These people that he didn't know- or care to know.

"You told them I like farmin," he joked, saddened by the frail sound of her laughter. She patted his equally wrinkled hand, smiling so brightly.

"It was me, Murph," he continued, rubbing circles in her hand. "I was your ghost."

"I know. Nobody believed me. They thought I was doing it all by myself." She tapped her watch and laughed another weak laugh. It brought tears to his eyes.

"It's alright, Murph. I'm here now."

"I always knew you would be."

"How?" He was perplexed. He could feel Brand's hand on his shoulder, rubbing strength into him. Everyone else just watched on.

"Because my dad promised me," she told him and he almost broke down crying then and there.

"I'm sorry it took me so long, Murph. I tried to get back, I did. But everything just turned out all wrong-"

"It went according to plan. Plan B, that is," she sniffed, her smile soft and reassuring. Saddened beyond all hope.

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright. Everything worked out they way it was supposed to." He nodded letting her go when she told him to. There was nothing left for them. Ghosts to each other now, all they could do was part ways with everything clear and resolved. Now all Cooper had left to do before he died was tell Brand the truth.

* * *

"I could have loved you," he told her as they lie in their hospital bed. The doctors let them share one since there was nothing they could do for either. Murph had passed on an hour ago; Tom more then five years before that.

"I know," she said. She was weaker than him, but he had to tell her anyway.

"I wish I had done right by you when we got stuck back on Edmunds. My greatest regret on that planet was treating you like it was your fault when I knew better. It was never your fault. I should have been better to you. Loved you like you loved me."

"You did the best you could in the situation you were given. You kept us protected and fed and you helped to build our colony even when all you wanted to do was bury yourself in the past. Thank you for never truly losing yourself."

"It was only cause of you that I didn't go insane out there. You took care of me when I was drunk, weeping and alone. You didn't have to. You could have stayed away- should have. But you were there for me and I thank you for that."

"Cooper," she whispered, dark eyes fading as her heart weakened.

"Amelia," he said back, relishing the taste of her name on his tongue that he had denied himself so many long years ago. "I love you. Always have."

"I know, Coop. I love you, too." She released a stuttered breath and let her hand fall to her side. Coop didn't let himself cry at her passing, but whispered a simple phrase as he gently followed with a soft sigh. Knowing TARS and CASE were on their way back to the colony.

"Do not go gently into that Good Night..."


End file.
